November 2015 Around Town

Search for:

October 28, 2015

Symphony in the Valley Plays Dec. 12 & 13

Two Christmas concerts will be offered by Symphony in the Valley (SITV) next month. On the evening of December 12, SITV musicians will gather onstage at the Ute Performing Arts Theatre in Rifle to present Christmas classics. The program will be repeated at 4 p.m. on December 13 in the Glenwood Springs High School Theatre with seasonal favorites for young and old alike.

Symphony in the Valley has given local classical musicians opportunities to perform for hometown audiences for 21 years. Players are drawn from betwenn Aspen and Glenwood Springs, and from Vail to Grand Valle. To encourage local residents to enjoy live orchestral music, admission is kept affordable. For more information, visit SITV.org.

Kids’ Photo Contest Deadline is December 1

Youngsters under the age of 16 are invited to submit two photographs for a photography contest that is being sponsored by Roaring Fork Lifestyle magazine. Contestants must live in a zip code beginning with the digits “816” and will be judged in three divisions: Elementary Division, ages 5 to 8; Junior Division, ages 9 to 12 and Upper Division, ages 13 to 16. Photos must be submitted by December 1st via email to the Lifestyle editor: ntoussaint@lifestylepubs.com.

Winners will be chosen by a panel of local judges that includes professional photographers, members of the media and local business people. The photos of all division winners and honorable mentions will be published in the January issue of Roaring Fork Lifestyle, and the overall winner will be featured on that issue’s cover.

Vendors Invited to Apply for El Jebel Winter Market

This winter, Eagle Crest Nursery will again become a winter wonderland, hosting the El Jebel Winter market in its greenhouse. The market will be open every Saturday between December 7 and March 15, and it will feature local produce, meats, prepared foods and artisans.

Artisans and food purveyors are invited to apply to be part of this festive gathering. Applications are on Eagle Crest Nursery’s website at EaglecrestNursery.com.

Dancers and Vacuum Cleaner Choir at Launchpad

In October, choreographer Alya Howe plugged in to local talent by orchestrating a multimedia work called “Vacuum” that involved dance, film and music. “Vacuum” will be performed at Carbondale’s Launchpad on Nov. 6 and 7. The piece explores why we clean, what we want to clean and what tools do we choose to do the job. (See Lifestyle Calendar for details.)

Howe interviewed local figures for a short film on vacuum cleaner choice, A vacuum cleaning choir provides accompaniment and professional dancers explore becoming a vacuum cleaner. Dancers include Emily Fifer, Cindy Gottlob, Sean Ericson and Cynthia Giannini, a past soloist with the Joffrey Ballet. The Vacuum Choir features local stars Deborah Colley, Kirsten Frantzich, Collette Newell, Michelle Greenfield and Meagan Londy Shapiro.

Howe, who was featured in the Dance Initiative’s final 2015 dance residency at the Launchpad, has danced professionally with the critically-acclaimed Limon Company and has served as faculty at the Laban Institute. She currently teaches yoga in Carbondale and Denver and curates the Justice Snow’s Salon in Aspen.

One Woman Flash Mob on the Divide

Carbondale singer/songwriter Ellen Stapenhorst traveled to the top of Independence Pass in September to film a video of her song “Beyond the Great Divide.” The song was inspired by the political climate and by a Rumi poem that says, “Out beyond right-doing and wrong-doing is a field – I’ll meet you there.”

Stapenhorst says, “It seemed the perfect place to sing about the divide in our country, and it was definitely higher ground!” Singing the lyrics – There are wars around the world, battlegrounds at home / The air is full of bullet speech, the rapid fire of stones / It’s hard to hear this hatred coming from all sides / Will we ever find a way across the great divide? – on top of the pass, she says she “felt like a one-woman flash mob.” People pulled out their cell phones, listened and cheered. “It made me realize again what a powerful tool music is for bringing people together,” she commented.

Grammy Award-Winning Quartet in Local Residency

The La Catrina Quartet, 2012 winners of the Latin Classical Grammy Award, will be Roaring Fork Valley resident artists between November 1 and 3, thanks to a collaboration between the Basalt Regional Library, the Aspen Music Festival and the School’s Musical Connections program, English in Action, the Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra and local schools. The quartet’s schedule begins at the Basalt Library with an “Informance.” That performance/lecture will allow the musicians to explain and illustrate their repertoire, which includes Latin American classical contemporary composers who incorporate traditional folk music in their compositions. (See Lifestyle Calendar for details.) On Tuesday, the Quartet will hold a workshop with the Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra at the Aspen Middle School, and the group will work in local schools from Monday through Wednesday. La Catrina’s mission is to promote Mexican and Latin-American music worldwide and to perform string quartet masterworks.

Rodeo Royalty for 2015-16 Selected

In September, five young women were selected to be Carbondale Wild West Rodeo Royalty for the 2015-16 season. The new royalty will begin their reign on April 1, 2016, and will continue for one year.

Contestants for the various royalty positions – queen, queen attendant and princess – range from ten to 21 years old, and are judged with a written application and a personal interview. More information about the rodeo and its royalty can be found at CarbondaleRodeo.com.

Local Art Students Selected Carbondale’s Best Sculpture

This year, for the first time, art classes from Carbondale schools selected the Best of Show winner of the 2015-16 Art aRound Town exhibition. After viewing and discussing the 14 sculptures in this year’s exhibition, the students voted “Purgatory/China” as the grand winner. Carbondale Public Arts Commission Chair Ashley Todey announced their decision at the First Friday Carbondale Library Lit Crawl in October.

The thought-provoking sculpture of recycled cast glass and stainless steel was created by artist Matthew Duffy of Washington D.C. In addition to being able to add this award to his resume, Duffy will receive an award check for $1,000.

Dos Gringos Turns 15

This month Carbondale’s Dos Gringos Burritos celebrates its 15th birthday, sharing the November 11th date with this magazine’s editor (who is considerably older than 15).

The cafe’s success – as evidenced by the many community meetings and friendly gatherings that take place at Dos, including bluegrass musicians who gather there to jam each Sunday night – could not have occurred without the support of many loyal employees and customers. Dos gives a shoutout to employees Mike Chavez for 14 years of dedicated service and to Kenna Steindler, the current manager, who has been at DOS for 11 years. (She started when she was 16; you do the math.)